Vanishing theorems in asymptotic analysis (Q1058632)

In the study of systems of differential equations with irregular singularities, it is well known that asymptotic analysis had been playing a deep role. In recent years cohomological methods are developed and being used in the study, recasting old results in precise cohomological terms and getting new results which seem to be out of reach by the classical methods. The author of the paper under review studies differential equations on complex manifolds with irregular singularities on divisors with normal crossings. He introduces the notion of strong asymptotic developability of functions defined in polysectors. This notion seems to be identical with Whitney's notion of infinite differentiability on boundaries of polysectors for functions holomorphic inside the polysectors. In this and a subsequent paper (see reference below), the author obtains 'vanishing theorems' for cohomology with coefficients in the sheaf of germs of such functions. The notations and preliminaries needed to state these theorems are lengthy and so we do not state these theorems here. The details of proofs with some simplifications can be found in the author's book [''Asymptotic analysis for integrable connections with irregular singular points'', Lecture Notes Math. 1075 (1984; Zbl 0546.58003)]. In the latter book, the author using these 'vanishing theorems' solves a version of the Riemann-Hilbert- Birkhoff problem for integrable connections with irregular singularities. This latter book is better written than the present and the subsequent papers (see the following review) and hence it is advisable to read this book which contains a wealth of materials and techniques.